Read this if you love:
the enemies to lovers trope
secret authors that will stop at nothing to keep their anonymity
A protagonist that is clumsy, quirky with guts and an open vulnerability about mental health
A love interest that is mysterious and tender
Love and laughing!

This is my first read by Janu and I was invested from the start. I have never read a historical romance before but loved learning about the genre and the process of writing one through Miles. She does research for her novels that had me blushing and laughing out loud.

The witty banter, the relatable heroine, the supportive and loving friendships, the push and pull of Miles and Lars as well as the experts of Miles’ historical romance stories woven into the story made this book so enjoyable. I felt like I was watching a rom com that had me rooting for Miles and Lars until the very end. I also really loved the portrayal the vulnerabilities of mental health can be met with tenderness and compassion truly allowing a person to be seen and supported.

I liked Janu's writting style (this is my first by her) and the story got me hooked from the beginning. The characters were well rounded and their personalities were clear and recognizable; and though I can understand Miles (our mc) view on keeping Emma a secret, it did felt a bit too stubborn when it came to Lars, like the conflict stretched a bit too far. Lars, on the other hand, got me mad at him at times with his attitude, but for me this is just an example of good writting. I also feel that the portrayal of the publishing business was on point (I don't know much about it, just felt like it), and the friendships were heartworming, the whole pole dancing stint was really entertaining. I enjoyed it a lot!

I really liked the concept of this and the cover of the book really pulled me in but the actual storyline just wasn’t gripping enough.

I felt bored and even cringed a few times and really didn’t understand how a lot of things just got ignored. Including how her friend forged her signature, completely ignoring the main characters anxiety and feelings about it.

I liked that it wasn’t a Insta love situation but I just couldn’t enjoy their relationship.

I really did want to like it as the idea of it was really unique and I really liked the mention of anxiety and panic attacks; but this book just wasn’t for me

Thank you netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this early and to give my full honest review

Miles Franklin is a lawyer by day, but by night she is Emma Browning, romance writer. When her work is secretly submitted to a prestigious prize, Miles has to square off against publisher Lars to keep her anonymity. Will these adversaries become lovers?

I liked it! (Three stars is a like in my book). This book is a true love letter to romance novels. Janu infuses the book with Austen, Brontë and more. It points out that romance novels are often ridiculed because they are for women. I loved the cast of characters and if you enjoy enemies to lovers, this book is for you!


Enemies to lovers
Stubborn alpha male lead
Strong heroine

I was unable to finish this book. The main character's constant back-and-forth between real-life experiences and passages from her historical romance novels was very confusing for me and I was lost. I had a really hard time getting into this.

I did not connect with this book very well. I thought the main character Miles was frustrating and inconsistent. Many of her actions made no sense to me, especially with the main conflict regarding her identity. It didn't seem believable that she and the love interest, Lars, would fall for each other. I felt like the book set up the conflict between their characters without earning the resolution; I didn't buy their chemistry. The side characters also didn't add much to the story for me to make it any more enjoyable or interesting.

I do love romance novels, but I'm not huge into the historical romance genre. If that is something you enjoy, you'll probably get a kick out of the excerpts Emma writes within the story.

One great thing I did appreciate about this book was the sentiment that romance should be taken seriously as a genre and has great value.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my review copy!

I really enjoyed the premise of the book. It had romance, a main character who writes books, and slight regency romance. However, the FMC was a little annoying. Her hot then cold act got old half way through the book. Most of the problems she encountered were her own fault and if she would ha e just calmed down for 5 minutes and told the MMC the truth it would have went a lot smoother. I also wish the main problem would have been between her and her parents rather than with the MMC. Overall, it was a decent read.

Thank you Netgalley and Escape Publishing for this ARC!

3.5 rounded up. This was a cute book. I was in a bit of a book slump when I started this but those first 9 chapters had me laughing out loud. It was a very strong beginning but the middle and end unraveled a bit for me. Miles is extremely immature. The way she handles things with Lars became old quickly. They were hot and cold and then, when they got to their chapter 45, the author barely gave us any details. I don't need multiple pages of spice but if you build it up for over half of the novel then I expect some juicy details. The ending was also a little out of left field but I won't give any spoilers. I enjoyed the aspects of Miles working on her novel. Overall, it wasn't a bad read but it could have been better.

I’m sorry but i have to declare this as a dnf, i didn’t like the characters especially Miles aka Emma nor the plot (there isn’t much of it tbh it was pretty boring) the concept was so intriguing at first and i really wanted to love this book but i have to say i was disappointed i was literally forcing myself to read it and the writing didn’t help either.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc!

I wanted to like this book, but nope, it didn’t work for me. Miles comes from a literary family but disappointingly to her parents she became a lawyer. She also writes successful steamy romance novels under an assumed name. When her latest novel wins a national publishing prize Mile’s world changes. By winning the prize the publisher gets writes to her latest book and back catalog and insists she must help promote the novels. Honestly that part of the story doesn't make sense to me at all.

I could get over the silly premise if the characters are likable. They are not. Miles has a lot of anxiety from her childhood. She chooses to deal with things by ignoring emails, phone calls etc. Instead of finding a way to lawyer out of the contest she stalls and stalls some more. Peoples jobs depend on her. Lars is the publishing house CEO and I have no idea why he wants or is attracted to Miles. And he isn’t kind or courting he is obsessive. At one point she blacks out after a panic attack he is there comforting her when she comes to her senses. There is some kissing and when he invites her to back to his hotel she declines. He gives her a big F###-You! She literally had been unaware minutes before. Yup, I have no need for him.

I did like the cover and Australia as the setting. Unfortunately my dislike of the main characters made this novel seem endless. There are side characters; horrible parents, stereotypical gay best friend, employees that Miles is trying to help. They add interest and some depth but not enough to make the story enjoyable. I wish I had liked the story more. Thank you to NetGalley and Escape Publishing for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

On The Same Page is a story that explores the snobbery of the publication world. In this book, the author has tried to bring about the views contemporary romances get from an elitist writer. I cannot say how much of that is true but it is nearer to reality. Throughout the book, there is a parallel romance running while the author discusses the relevance of writings of all kinds. The slow-burn romance was a treat to read about.

The writing style of the book is easy to read but at places, the context of the dialogues is lost. This book is just like the criticism of the historical romances of Emma Browning from the novel: genius in between average works. There were some parts that I loved to read and then there were certain cliched and confusing parts. The plot of the story was really good and a little bit of work upon the writing style would have had brought out a new best seller for us.

While reading this book, the author has referred to a lot of classics and briefly discussed the summaries and characters. I used to skim over the classics which I am yet to read to avoid spoilers of any kind even though the mention was brief. I got the feeling of these new historical romance web series that are coming out recently while reading about the brief glimpses of Emma Browning's novels.

Overall, it was a very difficult book to review properly because there were so many voices and so many styles in the story. I was reading a fiction written by Penelope Janu in which the protagonist was writing romantic fiction under the guise of a fictional person who was supposed to be her client as well. So much fiction, and there is a slow-burn romance as well, which seemed a bit rushed up to me in its arrival and conclusion. The pause before the love would have been an interesting course.

I will give this book 3 out of 5 stars. I want to give more but the confusing parts of the story make it a bit difficult to up the ratings. I will recommend this book to romance readers who want to read slow burn romance along with other parts of the plot as well. This is not only based on romance, rather romance comes out as a by-product of the plot where the author is discussing the snobbery of elite writers and their prejudices towards romance readers. It briefly explores the world of publication and contractual working of the law world.

I always believe that if you don’t have nice things to say, don’t say it. So this review is going to be very short.

This book was ambitious. I liked that it was. I wish the author had enough time or space out of the romance book conventions to actually act on her ambitions. I don’t think she did.

What I liked about this book is its premise- two people who really are sexually attracted to each other trying to stay away because they are idiots. It’s frustrating and oh-so-amazing when done right. But that’s exactly where this book falls short. It doesn’t do it right.

I thought Miles, the FMC was (forgive me for cursing) fucking annoying. Like how does a person be so rude to literally everyone ever? Leave the quirky shy thing to Jessica Day and Taylor Swift. PLEASE. Don’t attempt these things if you can’t pull it off?!

The FMC Miles is also so unreliable! Like why does she have a job? Why does the MMC (who is also kind of her boss, honestly) keep pursuing her for no reason? And why is the MMC so… forceful in his physical attention? She’s passed out, buddy! Don’t try to make out with her when that’s happening!

Ugh, and a gay best friend (GBF)? I hate the gay best friend trope! That’s perhaps a personal preference, but usually the GBF trope usually reinforces the stereotypes of gay men: they love drama and gossip and they are wise orcs. At least this one was a bit messy, but also very tropey.

As you can tell, I really did not like the book. I could go on and on about why, but I won’t

Janu crammed so many of my favorite things into this book:
Book about books - Check
Enemies-to-lovers romance - Check
Regency romance - Check

Miles is a lawyer by day and steamy Regency romance writer by night (but only in secret.) Her alter-ego, Emma, is her way of dealing with a host of family issues and crippling anxiety, but when Emma is thrust into the spotlight Miles must figure out how to navigate the web of deception she so carefully curated. Iconic publishing is taking her on, and she is taking on the romance cover model-esque, swoon-worthy new CEO. Will she be able to keep her secret or will she be found as a fraud? How will those closest to her handle this revelation? This book will be impossible to put down until the end!

SLIGHTLY SPOLIERY BELOW!!!!




I loved Miles as an author and all the work she put in to researching her stories. Her relationship with Jack, while maybe somewhat unhealthy, was really cute to watch. I read this book in 4 hours in one day because I didn't want to put it down and it was really easy to read. The only hang-up I had was wanting more interaction and dialogue between Miles and Lars. When it got to the steamy scenes I had no idea how Lars had arrived at those feelings and it felt abrupt and a little bit suspicious like it was a trick and not authentic. I liked the side stories of the other characters like Ruby, Crystal, Maurice and April but I wish more time had been given to Lars' inner world. I also struggled a bit with Miles and her secrecy regarding Emma with certain people in her life and feel like she could have saved herself some anxiety and it didn't have to be as dramatic as it was for her. Overall, this was a fun read.

An entertaining an quirky read.
Miles is a lawyer by day, and also secretly a novelist. When her book is entered into a competition it looks like she might have to admit to her writing, but she fights against it, and the CEO of the publishing company Lars.

First book I heave read by this author and really looking forward to more

Was a whirlwind but I enjoyed it. I think the hardest part was keeping the characters separate. This book has main characters of the story and then the characters of the stories that are being written during the book. It carry’s some angst of a typical enemies to lovers book which I love. Ends with an HEA!

My review will be posted on Goodreads and on my bookstagram @libraryofhallie!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley & Escape Publishing!

Lawyer Miles Franklin has a secret. She has been moonlighting as romance writer, publishing books under the name Emma Browning. When Emma Browning wins a literary award, the publisher wants to meet the mysterious author.

On the Same Page is a quirky twist on the opposites attract trope. Miles is willing to do anything to protect her secret identity and Lars wants to turn her into an international bestseller. The book is a little slow paced to start but once it picked up, I couldn’t put it down.

The main message that the author conveys throughout the plot is to read what you want. Write what makes you happy. Miles’ parents were quite judgemental of her reading habits and that leads to her hiding her passion. I appreciate the sensitive way in which the author covers the topic of literary snobbery.

This is the first novel that I have read from Penelope Janu but I plan to check out more of her works in the future.

I've been reading a lot of romance novels recently, both contemporary and regency so On the Same Page really appealed to me. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get on board with the protagonist - Miles was annoying and off-putting and I didn't root for her. Not the romance for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Escape Books, and Ms. Janu for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested but not required.

It pains me to be harsh on a book, especially an ARC, but I have to be honest, if this wasn't an ARC I would have DNF'd it.

Here's what I DID like:

-I enjoyed the Australian-ishness of this. It's always fun to have a novel set in a non-US setting, and I did pick up a little bit of local flavor. I also kept imaging the characters from Bluey as the voices which made me smile a bit. (I have little kids, don't judge. Also, Bluey is AWESOME, I have no regrets.)

-I actually enjoyed the side characters very much, and since there were A LOT OF SIDE CHARACTERS, this helped tremendously.

-Ms. Janu's writing overall was very easy to read, despite the formatting issues (not her fault), and kept me interested enough in how things would play out that I kept reading DESPITE...

(and here we switch over to what I did NOT like...)

-MILES. I HATE MILES. I'm sorry, I know that's a strong word, but MILES IS THE WORST. She is unprofessional. She is frustrating. A liar. A hypocrite. She is a pushover to her staff and a passive-aggressive ostrich to the publishing house employees, NONE of whom are able to complete their work since she refuses to answer calls, answer emails, answer questions, or do anything whatsoever as she vainly pretends that if she ignores everything it will just go away. She has significant social anxiety and, it seemed to me, some untreated mental health issues going on. "Placing a peppermint under her tongue" does not seem to be successful treatment, I regret to say, and one would think that after passing out/going practically catatonic MULTIPLE TIMES she would get treatment or one of her many "friends" would sit her down and insist she pursue treatment. But no. One would be wrong. Anywho. Lars' frequent castigations of Miles/Emma, while perhaps slightly aggressive, are nonetheless spot-on and I found myself pitying every single employee who had to work around/with/behind her and compensate for her absolute failure to do any, ANY, part of her job (be it writing OR attorney-work.) And did I recall correctly that she allowed her legal clients to pay her in HONEY and PRODUCE? As she was failing to make her rent? *Sigh*.

-Miles is supposedly secretly Emma Browning the romance author, and it is absolutely the worst-kept secret in the entire world. How everyone does not know, immediately, is beyond me.

-Supposedly Emma has wildly selling eBooks despite absolutely no marketing or effort, which surprises me. Even more surprising, vis-a-vis the writing of the novel itself, is the fact that the snippets of "Emma's" novels were... not very good. Certainly not prize-worthy. They sounded trite and tropey.

-Lars, the love interest, the jet-setting hotshot CEO of Iconic Publishing, develops an absolutely inexplicable fixation on Miles which is even more confusing considering that she gives him very little encouragement and alternates between being weird, hostile, rude and evasive at every meeting. Why does he like her? Why does he KEEP liking her? And even more curious, when does she start liking him back? I get attraction but they seem to have very little common ground for a relationship.

I could not get on board with Lars, I actively disliked Miles, and I didn't believe the two of them together for an instant. It's a testament to the author's writing that I kept reading despite my growing antipathy for the main character. As I said, I did like the side characters and I thought the premise had some promise. I would certainly be willing to try another by this author but this one wasn't for me, I'm afraid.

The cutest cover drew me in. She's shy and he writes romance novels under a pen name. It's an opposites attract romance, that I enjoyed, not my favorite but it was good.

On the Same Page was well written and amusing in parts. I did finish it in one day. However, I am sooo tired of books with clumsy heroines. She bumps her head so many times I'm fearing she's permanently concussed. No human is that prone to haphazard accidents. Bumps, Burns, and Bruises.